Devil Dog Blues

by Henry Simpson

Mike Riley leaves his Reno home at age seventeen to join the Marines, spends the next decade as a Combat Rifleman in foreign wars, leaves the Marines to start a new career as an Ambulance hack-Emergency Medical Technician. At last settled in a peaceful life in California, his mother calls, claims her life is in danger, and he rushes to her rescue in Reno. Once there, she has disappeared and family members offer conflicting explanations. In Mike’s search to find her, he has a run-in with his criminal stepfather, attempts are made on his life, a relative offers a lucrative career opportunity if he kills a relative, he meets a nice Irish girl who manages a rundown motel, three different men claim to be his biological father, and he reunites with a former girlfriend who treats her dad’s tendency to kill unsavory customers as a business overhead cost, Decisions, decisions—what will Mike decide and discover?

226 pages, Paperback

Published August 24, 2022

About the author

Henry Simpson is the author of several popular murder mysteries featuring mobster lawyer Joe Costa (Death on the Strand, Golden Girl, Joe Costa’s Lonely Hearts, Joey Costa’s Law, Joey Costa’s New Game, Open House, Princess Lily, Some Kind of Genius) and Special Agent Ed Lane (A Splendid Little Murder, Island of Sprits, Finding Elysium) as well as short stories in literary magazines and anthologies. His fiction is character-based and usually has a plot involving greed, revenge, abuse of power, revenge, jealousy, flimflammery in arts or religion, the unsettled nature of reality, or achieving the American dream. He is married, lives in Monterey, California, and has two adult children and five grandchildren. Writers whose fiction he admires include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Truman Capote, Raymond Chandler, George V. Higgins, James Crumley, and James Dickey. His early influences were Boy Scouts, an urban high school, jazz musicians, surfers, street racers, juvenile delinquents, and a probation officer. At age eighteen, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve and began college. He studied engineering, did graduate work in English and Psychology, and holds a PhD from UCSB. He spent most of his professional career at small consulting companies as a military research psychologist, and worked independently as a software engineer, security consultant, real estate hack, and free lance writer while writing fiction on the side. He welcomes readers to his Facebook page or contact him at woodcrest400@yahoo.com.

Reviews

[Yomi Akinode · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family squabble
When your dad and mom are among the people you fear most, the question is, where do you run to hide? So, Mike Riley has a lot to think about. Then his girlfriend and friends are not better than his parents. The Reno man has a lot to ponder.

As a rifleman, danger was his constant companion, and he was prepared for the challenge. Now, as an ambulance-chaser? Does he possess the skills a Marine gained through several tours? It’s a slow burn and a bit verbose at times; nonetheless, the author manages to spin a good yarn.